Friday, 2 August 2019

Trevor Noah says Ronald Reagan officially has ‘racist asterisk’ next to name

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah responded to the newly released recording of Ronald Reagan referring to African delegates of the United Nations as monkeys. The audio comes from a phone conversation between President Richard Nixon and the then California Governor, Ronald Reagan, discussing the UN’s recognition of the People’s Republic of China in 1971.

Since the recording surface, Reagan’s daughter Patti Davis has condemned her father's language. And the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation issued the statement, “If he said that 50 years ago, he shouldn't have, and he would be the first person to apologize."

Noah thought that was a strange statement to make because Reagan should be the “only person to apologize.” Noah also dismissed the implication that Reagan may not have said the things in the audio recording. “They're like, ‘If he said,’” said Noah, “There's a recording! He said the thing.”

Noah also pointed out other US presidents who have been accused of being racist, saying, “Woodrow Wilson was a segregationist, Andrew Jackson wiped out Native Americans, Thomas Jefferson had sex with his slaves, and George H.W. Bush shot Tupac.” The last was of course a joke.

Noah wasn’t laughing too much though, when he said “On the one hand, it is disturbing that America has a history of racist presidents, but look on the bright side-- it also means Donald Trump is more presidential than we thought.”